The Belial Ring (The Belial Series 3) (8 page)

Laney looked up and saw Patrick and Jake were in hand-to-hand fights of their own.
Scanning three-sixty, she saw three more men zeroing in on her. Fast.

Patrick looked over at her, sizing up the situation.
“Laney! Run!”

She didn
’t pause. She ran.

L
aney weaved between the parked cars, trying to put some distance between herself and her three pursuers.

A man stepped from behind a large panel truck ahead of her and smiled.
“Going somewhere?”

Laney didn
’t stop. She ran full tilt, dropping her shoulder at the last minute and burrowing it into the man’s hip. Grabbing his legs behind the knees, she yanked. With a yell, he slammed onto his back.

Laney landed three punches to his face before he could react.
The last knocked him out cold. She detangled herself from him and looked behind her.

The men chasing her were still there, but closer.
She took off again, trying to come up with a plan to lose these guys. She was outnumbered and outgunned.

She groaned.
Crap
. Why hadn’t she at least checked the two guys she had taken down for weapons?

Guess that
’s what happens when you have two months of peace. Your survival skills get rusty.

Nearby, tourists and f
amilies had noticed the chase and were either running for the factory or cowering behind cars. Good. She didn’t want anyone hurt in the crossfire.

The thought gave her pause.
She realized that her pursuers weren’t actually
shooting
at her. They were all armed, but not one of them had taken a shot.
Why the hell not?

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a blur of motion making its way
toward her. She recognized that blur.
Thank God. Henry.

The blur moved directly
toward her. She came to an abrupt halt as the blur jolted to a stop right in front of her. She stopped so quickly, she lost her balance, and fell backward.

Her eyes traveled up the black boots, the black slacks, the black shirt
, and finally came to rest on a chiseled face with pale blue eyes, mocha skin, and dark brown hair.

Her heart pounded.
Not Henry.

CHAPTER 12

L
aney crab-walked backward, scrambling to get to her feet. The man reached down and grabbed her arm, pulling her up. “Been looking for you.”

Laney stared into his face, terror leaving her paralyzed.
He was a Fallen, or at least a nephilim. Either way, that meant superhuman speed and strength.

“
We’re going for a little ride.” He picked her up, his hands squeezing her arms painfully. Over his shoulder she saw Jake running for her. And another blur.

She looked back at the man holding her.
“I don’t think so.”

She
headbutt him in the nose. He yelled, loosening his grip.  She wrenched herself from his grasp.  She quickly ran her right hand along the side of his neck while reaching around the other side with her left, pulling him into a choke.

Taking a step back, she twirled him around.  Unable to get his balance, he fell back.  But she miscalculated his weight and he dropped from her grasp. 

With a yell, he fell onto his back, but nimbly jumped back to his feet.  Laney aimed a punch for his face, but he moved out of the way at the last minute and grabbed her fist. Laney shifted, avoiding the punch aimed for her own face.

The man
wrapped his arms around her, trapping her against his chest. “Forgot about your little tricks. I won’t give you that chance again.”

He spun her around
so her back was to his chest, then leapt to his feet. He pinned both arms with one of his own, and wrapped his other arm around her legs. She struggled but couldn’t move against his strength.

From the corner of her eye she saw the blur of motion heading
toward them. Her arms and legs might be trapped, but she could still move her head. She threw it back, catching him in the jaw.

“
Bitch!” he screamed, releasing his grip slightly. Laney braced herself.

Henry slammed into the two of them
, sending Laney airborne. She landed on the hood of an Altima ten feet away; momentum rolled her off the car, and she fell onto her back.  

“
Ow,” she muttered, staring at the sky.

“
Stop right there.” A man stood two feet away. In blue jeans and a turtleneck, he obviously wasn’t a cop. “Raise your hands.”

Laney stayed on her back, putting her hands up.
Keeping them in the air, she rolled back and then forward onto her knee. In the same motion, she wrapped her hands around the man’s ankle, trapping his leg in place, and drove her shoulder into his knee. Hard.

The man screamed as he fell back, his skull slamming into a car
’s side mirror on his way down to the ground. Laney continued her forward momentum, landing a groin shot with her right knee followed by a right elbow to his chin. The man’s eyes rolled back into his head.

“
Night-night.” Snatching the man’s gun, she stood.

Patrick ran toward her from the left.
He’d acquired a weapon somewhere along the way as well. Jake was slamming a guy onto the hood of a car one row over. No other gunmen were visible—except for Henry’s.

Henry and his opponent rolled along the ground. The man picked Henry up and slammed him into a jeep.
The windows exploded out with the force of the impact.

“
Henry, get down!” Laney yelled.

Henry
dove for the ground as Laney opened fire. Jake and Patrick joined in. Henry stayed low, crawling out of the circle of bullets.

Laney, Jake
, and Patrick closed the circle around the Fallen, their bullets turning the man like a rag doll.

Jake reached him first.
Grabbing the front of the man’s shirt, he emptied his gun into the man’s heart.

The man collapsed.

Laney dropped to the ground next to
the assailant. “Who are you?”

Blood poured from the man
’s mouth. “One of many.”

CHAPTER 13

L
aney watched the light leave the man’s eyes.
One of many? What the hell does that mean?

Patrick grabbed her arm and pulled her up.
“You need to go.”

“
You mean
we
need to go,” Laney said.

Patrick shook his head.
“Laney, they weren’t after all of us. They were after you.” He pushed her toward Jake. “Get her out of here.”

Jake took her arm.
“Let’s go.”

Laney shook Jake free.
“Wait just a minute. They weren’t after me. They were after all of us. We
all
need to get to safety.”

“
Patrick’s right.” Henry stepped next to her. “The rest of us were just in the way. For some reason, they were trying to get to
you
. They didn’t shoot at you, Laney. They were trying to
take
you.”

Laney stopped moving, picturing the attack, the men running after her in the lot.
The Fallen who’d grabbed her could have killed her. But he didn’t. He’d tried to leave with her instead. Was it possible? “But why?”

“
We need to get you to safety,” Henry said.

Laney shook her head.
“No. You need to stay with the boys and Kati.”

“
He should go with you,” Patrick argued. “I’ll take care of Kati and the boys.”

Laney looked at his shirtsleeve, now soaked in blood.
“Uncle Patrick, you’ve been shot. We need to get you to a hospital.”

Patrick shook his head. “
I told you it’s just a graze. I’ll take care of the boys and Kati.”

Henry nodded. “Patrick should stay with them, but we need to go.
I left Kati and the boys with my operatives. They’re fine. And they’re not the ones these guys were after.”

Laney looked around, trying to wrap her mind around everything.
“But why would anyone be after me?”

Jake took her arm, pulling her way.
“We’ll figure that out later. Right now, we need to move.”

CHAPTER 14

Johnson City, Tennessee

A
mar walked down the hall, his footsteps echoing off the heavy wood floor. The architect of this home had designed it to look like a farmhouse, but it was really a king’s farmhouse. Everything was overdone just a little.

The marble floor was imported Italian.
The chandeliers were dripping in crystals. The fireplace mantelpieces had been taken from a castle in Austria. Everything was just a little more than it should be.

Just like me
, thought Amar.

This house was so different from where he
’d grown up. He curled his lip in distaste when he pictured the squalor his parents had lived in. They’d sold him when he was seven. He’d been one of a legion of child beggars on the streets of India.

And o
ne day, when he was nine, his owner had decided he needed new eunuch. Amar had disagreed.

He smiled.
That day had been the beginning of his awareness of what he could do. The beginning of his empire.

Amar
entered his dining room. His throne chair stood at the end of the table, his lunch covered by a silver lid.

His cell phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket, stepping
toward the large windows overlooking the yard.

“
Sir, they escaped us at the park. They’re heading to Chandler’s car. Should we give chase?”

Amar paused for a moment, trying to place the voice.
It wasn’t Zeke— it was Zeke’s second in command. “Why are you calling me? Where’s Zeke?

A pause
. “Zeke’s dead, sir. Jake Rogan killed him.”

Amar went quiet, his mind flashing on his son.
They didn’t have a close bond—at least, not one based on emotion. But there was a connection there. Zeke had been made from him. And Zeke, therefore,
belonged
to him. Amar was the only one allowed to take his life.

His a
nger boiled up, but he kept a lid on it. Their goal was too close. He couldn’t let it cloud his judgment, but his rage was making that hard to remember. “Chase them down. I want them dead.”

“
Including the McPhearson woman? I thought you wanted her alive.”

“
Dead.
I want all of them dead.” He simmered, letting the rage wash over him. But then common sense warred with his thirst for revenge and won. He growled. “No. Never mind that. Get McPhearson. She’s your priority. Once we have her, we’ll take care of the rest.”

He paused, picturing his son.
He’d had so much potential. His anger warmed him. “But hurt her. A lot.”

CHAPTER 15

L
aney, Jake, and Henry ran across the parking lot. They reached Henry’s Escalade just as two Tahoes squealed into the lot.

Jake all but threw Laney into the back
seat. “I don’t think those are the good guys.”

Henry jammed the key in
to the ignition and gunned it. “Time to go.” He careened around the other cars waiting to exit.

A bunch of people honked their horns in irritation.
Apparently they had missed the life-and-death gun battle in the parking lot.

Laney held on in the back as Henry swerved from side to side,
weaving through the slower traffic. “You sure this is necessary?”

Henry
’s eyes flipped to the rearview mirror. “Yup.”

Laney glanced back.
The two Tahoes from the parking lot were behind them and moving fast. “Plan?”